The Other Wife

Extraordinary. A story about belonging in liminal spaces, and longing for things seemingly just out of reach. A searing, beautiful book – Kiley Reid, author of Such a Fun Age
Thomas-Kennedy’s debut is a marvelous study in how much desire lives in memory, in nostalgia and in fantasy. Fittingly for its themes, and for Zuzu, it’s also one of those rare contemporary novels that allows itself to remain unresolved, on a precipice of great change, its future open wide * The Washington Post *
The Other Wife captures the dizzy angst of young romance so well… following Zuzu over decades as she navigates growing up is a heart-rending, funny and relatable journey – Jessica Grose, author of Screaming on the Inside
Tender, wise, and thoroughly compelling, The Other Wife teems with the complicated pleasures and desolations of longing. Jackie Thomas-Kennedy knows a great deal about the life-shaping strength of desire. – R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries
A probing, gorgeous novel about the intricacies of desire: for other loves, other lives, other versions of the self. The Other Wife is a remarkable debut – Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of THE FIVE WOUNDS and NIGHT AT THE FIESTAS
Humor! Verve! Soul! This novel has it all. In a moment where much literary fiction can sound and feel the same, The Other Wife sounds and feels both classic and like nothing I’ve encountered before – Emma Copley Eisenberg, nationally bestselling author of HOUSEMATES
Rich in Zuzu’s lifelike conversations and interiority, Thomas-Kennedy’s debut is a humbly expansive marriage story and a tale of growing older in lockstep with a version of yourself that gets to stay young * Booklist *
This one is easy to dip in and out of between naps, chats and bodysurfing – Great Summer Beach Reads * New York Times *
This original love story paints a compelling and real picture of how our minds pinball through time, seeking in the present some of the thrill and love and validation of old patterns and dynamics, meanwhile forgetting what gifts we do have. Zuzu is a compelling and relatable character, and the novel explores themes of mixed-race identity, fidelity, queerness, and the pull of comfort versus thrill. Just like Agnes claims, we would follow Zuzu anywhere * Oprah Daily *
Thomas-Kennedy delivers a deeply thoughtful character portrait built around flashbacks, introspection, and the eternal complexity of the human condition. * GoodReads - 42 New and Upcoming Debut Novels for Your Reading Radars *

Jackie Thomas-Kennedy has been awarded a highly prestigious Stegner Fellowship and two MacDowell fellowships for her writing, as well as fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and Yaddo. She is the winner of the 2019 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize. Her work has been recorded for NPR’s Selected Shorts, and her stories have appeared in American Short Fiction, One Story, and Electric Literature, amongst others.

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